WACO, TX (FOX 44) — With opening day just three weeks away, the Baylor Baseball team was back out at practice on Wednesday as the Bears get ready to start the regular season.

“We’ve been tiptoeing here for the last ten days, waiting our time and to get out here today. So it’s exciting times for sure,” said head coach Mitch Thompson.

“It feels amazing,” junior pitcher Cole Stasio said. “It’s exciting to be back out here and ready to get started for sure.”

It’ll be an interesting season without a doubt for a Bears roster that is heavily retooled following the resignation of Steve Rodriguez and the hiring of Thompson, after spending 10 seasons at McLennan Community College.

With the rebuild of the roster, comes a rebuild of expectations, which will start low at least in the eyes of the Big 12 Baseball coaches, who picked the Bears to finish in last place in the preseason poll.

“It puts a chip on my shoulder, I’ll just be honest with you,” Thompson said. “I don’t like being picked where we were picked. I don’t ever wanna be picked there again.”

The recipe for Baylor to prove those doubters wrong is simple…win games. The Bears will look to start the season out that way when they open up the campaign on Friday, February 17th against Central Michigan at 3:00 pm.